Former Liberal riding prez jumps to new party

By Dan Hilborn
Published April 16, 2005


The former president of the Burnaby North Liberal riding association has crossed the floor to one of the newest political parties in the province - Democratic Reform B.C.

Shayne Gordon said he joined the party headed by Sooke councillor Tom Morino because of the undemocratic behaviour of the Liberals.

"The Liberals slapped a gag order on everyone on the executive boards not to write to the press without going through head office," Gordon said this week.

And Gordon claims the responsibility for the gag order came from former Burnaby mayoralty candidate Brian Bonney, who has worked as an organizer for the provincial Grits since the Campbell government assumed office. Gordon said that Bonney has "turned coats so many times, you don't know where he stands.

"The other part is that I think I was the only riding association president at the time who refused to stand behind Gordon Campbell when he was convicted of drinking and driving."

Gordon, who has lived in Burnaby since the 1940s, has a variety of beefs with his former colleagues in the B.C. Liberals. He said one bizarre incident occurred early in the mandate when MLA Richard Lee was banned from caucus meetings for undisclosed reasons.

"He (Lee) was stepped on early and told not to show up for caucus meetings until the house went into session," Gordon said, adding that he has no idea what may have caused that directive. "The other thing, too, of course, is that Richard voted for every single government initiative in the house. He never voted against anything."

Gordon, who worked his way up the ranks over a period of years from being a communications officer to vice-president and finally president of the Burnaby North riding association, was also frustrated by staff at the provincial Liberal head office in Richmond.

"I got pissed off at the fact that they kept saying there was no bridge to the federal Liberal party," he said. "I guess I just got tired of the lies, I got tired of the dictatorship and, basically, I just started to look elsewhere."

Gordon said he "toyed" with the idea of joining the NDP, but he "couldn't stomach" the return of Pietro Calendino as their local candidate.

He also said that he would not have joined DRBC if they had maintained their relationship with former NDP cabinet minister and one-time B.C. Liberal party leader Gordon Wilson.

As the new provincial campaign coordinator for DRBC, Gordon will help develop platforms and ideas for the party's rookie candidates, including Burnaby-Willingdon hopeful Tony Kuo.

Bonney did not return phone calls by press time on Friday.